This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/348,000, entitled “System and method for supplementing bar coded products with additional bar codes,” filed Oct. 26, 2001, and incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention provides methods and apparatuses for applying bar codes to products on a production line, and also addresses the need for quality control in a production line.
Various types of bar code symbologies have been developed to meet the specific needs of different activities including manufacturing, warehousing, shipping and merchandising. Moreover, in the field of healthcare, the Food and Drug Administration has proposed requiring that manufacturers provide bar codes on all pharmaceutical and biological products. Such bar codes can identify data such as the National Drug Code (NDC), a lot or batch number and the expiration date. The NDC is a unique numerical code identifying the manufacturer, product, dosage, strength, and package size or type. The proposed rule is an attempt to reduce the number of errors in dispensing drugs in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. In practice, the bar code on a drug could be matched against a bar code associated with the patient and the patient's drug regime, such as by using bar code provided on a patient's wrist bracelet or medical file. The hospitals would obtain appropriate scanning equipment for scanning the drugs' bar code and the patient's bar code, and a computer database would process the data to inform the healthcare professional whether the correct drug/medicine has been obtained. Additionally, by bar coding the drugs' expiration dates and lot numbers, identification of expired and recalled drugs can be facilitated.
Bar codes include both one-dimensional (linear) (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) types. Linear, or 1-D symbologies include Universal Product Code (UPC)/European Article Number (EAN), Code 39, Codabar, the multi-color Pharmacode (Laetus), Code 128, Code 93, Telepen, the Reduced Space Symbology (RSS) family, including RSS-14, RSS Limited and RSS Expanded, ITF-14 (Interleaved 2 of 5) and ISSN/ISBN. 2-D symbologies include PDF417 (Portable Data File), micro PDF417, Data Matrix and MaxiCode. Moreover, a composite bar code symbology combines two or more bar code symbols. For example, a composite bar code may be formed by combining a 1-D symbol with a 2-D symbol. One example is the EAN.UCC (European Article Number—Uniform Code Council, Inc.) composite symbol. RSS composite symbols may be formed by combining an RSS linear symbol with a EAN.UCC 2-D Composite Component (CC). A composite bar code symbol may also include a 1-D symbol that is printed in two or more rows.
In particular, the RSS family contains three linear symbologies that can be used with the EAN.UCC system. RSS-14 encodes the full 14-digit Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN) in a linear symbol that can be scanned omni directionally. The GTIN is made up of one character for a packaging designator, two system digits, five characters for the manufacturer, five characters for the item and one check digit. It also has truncated and stacked formats. RSS Limited encodes the same 14-digits with packing indicators limited to zero or one in a linear symbol. RSS Expanded encodes EAN.UCC primary identification plus supplemental element strings such as weight and “best before” date in a linear symbol that can be scanned omni directionally. Moreover, this symbol can be printed in multiple rows as a stacked symbol. Furthermore, any RSS symbol can be printed as a standalone linear symbol or as part of a composite symbol with an accompanying 2-D composite component printed above the RSS linear component.
However, there are various technical challenges to bar coding products on a production line. For example, it is not clear how an appropriate bar code can be provided on small drug products, such as a unit dose product, which are commonly used due to their convenience for hospitals, healthcare professionals and patients. These challenges include accommodating the significant amount of information that must be provided in a limited available space. Moreover, the use of bar codes present challenges on the production line for all products when information specific to the production run, such as lot, batch, expiration date or commodity number are bar coded. Furthermore, quality control considerations on the production line must be addressed to ensure that the correct bar code information is applied to the products.
The present invention addresses the above and other issues.